GETTING THE MOST OUT OF AXIS

Transcription

1 Consulting Actuaries Volume 3 FALL 2015 GETTING THE MOST OUT OF AXIS IN THIS ISSUE EXECUTIVE CORNER Upcoming AXIS structural changes IN THE SPOTLIGHT Using the AXIS Flexible Scenario Format TIPS & TRICKS WHAT S NEW IN AXIS STAYING INFORMED AND MANAGING CHANGE Editor s words: We are pleased to issue the Fall 2015 edition of our AXIS modeling newsletter. This issue introduces some key upcoming structural changes in AXIS and walks through a case study for how to use the new Flexible Scenario Format to produce stochastic scenarios. You will also find helpful tips and tricks for navigating the system and highlights of new features in recent AXIS releases. We hope you enjoy the newsletter.

2 EXECUTIVE CORNER Assess opportunities for your company, identifying models that can be simplified [Determine] the appropriate time for AXIS version upgrade and model transition. UPCOMING AXIS STRUCTURAL CHANGES GGY has unveiled plans for two new AXIS design features to be released in These features are planned in light of the evolving regulatory environment requiring multiple assumption sets for calculating reserve and capital requirements, and to improve system transparency and flexibility. CHANGE #1: NEW AXIS CELL STRUCTURE DETAILS Future AXIS versions will split assumption inputs into (A) Non-actuarial assumptions, and (B) Actuarial assumptions. For actuarial assumptions such as lapse and mortality, GGY is introducing new Assumption sets defined at the Cell level. These Assumption sets are currently anticipated in early DRIVERS According to GGY, the change is being introduced to provide more flexibility in the definition and application of actuarial assumptions within a model and is driven, in part, by the following: IFRS for Insurance Contracts and several US GAAP reserve requirements which call for three or more sets of assumptions to be referenced; and Increased demands for assumption flexibility, such as for stochastic processing. IMPACT ON BUSINESS AND MODELS AXIS will automatically organize existing Cell assumptions and inputs to align with this new feature. Adjustments will be required in DataLink for automated Cell creation processes. HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS Assess opportunities for your company, identifying models that can be simplified by this change. Additionally, models previously split out due to assumption set limitations may now be consolidated. Consider the benefits of the new Cell structure when determining the appropriate time for AXIS version upgrade and model transition. Set up fail safes and plan ahead for the change by notifying AXIS users within your organization and gaining familiarity with the new structure in

3 Exhibit 1: How to select Cell Actuarial Assumptions Exhibit 2: Placement of Actuarial Assumptions within the Cell 3

4 TIPS & TRICKS Remember a list of objects: When debugging, it is useful to keep track of a list of items that need updating or had errors. To add objects to a list in the current Dataset: 1. Select the object(s) to remember. 2. Right click and select Advanced and Remember Selected Object(s), choosing one of the options: a. Overwrite list of remembered objects of this type; or b. Append to list of remembered objects of this type. 3. Recall the selection by right clicking and selecting Advanced and Select Remembered Object(s). CHANGE #2: CELL TAGS DETAILS Cell Tags are a new feature that will be added to AXIS and are designed to provide an improved method of reflecting and documenting characteristics of a Cell. This method compares to the current approaches which rely on recognizing or testing the Cell Name, or reading the Notepad. This feature will allow users to select policy characteristics as Cell Attributes. The Cell Attributes will be input values in a new Cell Name Format Table, which will document the components of the Cell Name and link to mapping rules or formulas. A new DataLink action step to form Cell Names will execute the mapping instructions in the Cell Name Format Table and create the Cell Names as well as the new Cell Tags. An example of how Cell Tags are used is as follows: Exhibit 3: Example of Cell Tag usage CELL NAME AA R F NS 2 S ATTRIBUTE POSITION IN CELL NAME LENGTH CELL TAG COMPONENT Plan Code 1 2 <PlanCode = AA123> Product Indicator 4 1 <ProductIndicator = Reliance> Sex Code 6 1 <SexCode = Female> Smoker Code 8 2 <SmokerCode = NonSmoker> Face Band 11 1 <FaceBand = 50000> Premium Type 13 1 <PremiumType = Semi-annual> DRIVERS GGY is introducing this change as AXIS models are becoming more complex, with an increased number of Cells that are more difficult to manage using only the characteristics codified in the 40-character Cell Name. IMPACT ON BUSINESS AND MODELS Cell Tags offer greater model transparency and a structured approach to Cell definition. The new DataLink process that creates Cell Tags will be a systematic method for mapping Seriatim data to Cells. Querying Cell Tags will be more reliable than parsing through the Cell Name to control logic in Formula Tables and DataLink code. Moving to Cell Tags can increase transparency for new users; facilitate peer reviews, model validations and model audits; and simplify the sharing of models between different areas of your organization. 4

5 HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS Evaluate the current methods of mapping Cell Names and assess clarity and flexibility of mapping. Identify any models that use the existing formula function that permits testing of a Cell Name within a Formula Table in AXIS. This functionality will be disabled soon after the introduction of the Cell Tags. Identify where artificial limits arise from the current 40-character Cell naming convention. Collaborate across modeling teams to arrive at consistent Cell Tags and naming conventions throughout your organization. IN THE SPOTLIGHT When the new Scenario Format is adopted, it is recommended that one format be agreed upon and used throughout the organization. USING THE AXIS FLEXIBLE SCENARIO FORMAT In AXIS release , GGY introduced a new Flexible Scenario Format which removes constraints on the number of economic variables. The table below shows a comparison of the Flexible Scenario Format to the legacy Fixed Scenario Format. The new format provides more flexibility for products and applications that require a large number of market variables. Exhibit 4: Comparison of Flexible Scenario Format and Fixed Scenario Format MARKET TYPE FIXED SCENARIO FORMAT FLEXIBLE SCENARIO FORMAT Interest rates 10 columns Supports multiple 10 point yield curves Equity User rates Supports single 10 point yield curve 6 columns Supports 3 equity indices Allows modeling of any number of markets (e.g., Treasuries, Swaps) Unlimited user-defined columns and associated equity indices 10 columns Unlimited number of user-defined columns and associated variables CREATING A FLEXIBLE SCENARIO FORMAT The following supporting objects have been introduced to parameterize the main Scenario object: 5

6 MARKET OBJECT A Market object defines a financial market. Individual markets are defined by inputting a descriptive name (e.g., S&P 500, TSX Composite, Treasury Curve ) and the type of Market (equity, bond, interest rate, managed fund, inflation, portfolio rates, or a user-defined value). SCENARIO FORMAT OBJECT The purpose of the Scenario Format is to organize and parameterize Market objects. A Scenario Format is created by sequentially adding Market objects (with their Market Type and Market Name, as described above) and defining their properties: Market Shape: Equity Markets can have four Shapes. There is growth rate (or index value) and dividend rate, and options to include a volatility surface. 10 point yield curve is a Shape for an Interest Rate Market. Market-specific information: Information specific to each Market Type is also input into the Format e.g. Interest Rate Markets have a rate type (bond equivalent yield, annual effective yield, continuous), and a curve type (par or spot). Equity and Interest Rate Markets have interpolation and extrapolation methods, and other market-specific information is input for other Markets. The picture below shows an example of Scenario Format input. Exhibit 5: Example of Scenario Format input 6

7 TIPS & TRICKS Aliased fields: Use the User Defined Value Fields Dictionary to give meaningful names or aliases to the User Defined Fields in AXIS and then use those aliases throughout the Dataset. To create a User Defined Field: 1. Open a DataLink table and select Append/Insert. 2. Choose field type Optional Field, select one of the User defined value fields and click Append. Use the Dictionary to define the aliased name by: 1. Double clicking on the User Defined Field and opening the optional menu beside the Original Name field; or 2. Editing the Dictionary directly through DataLink Dataset Parameters. Once the Market objects and the Scenario Format object are created, a new Flexible Scenario can be created. SCENARIO REFERENCE OBJECT Scenario Format objects are referenced with a Scenario Reference Object (SRO). In the Fixed Scenario Format, a specific Scenario column needs to be referenced from AXIS tables. In a Flexible Scenario Format, the SRO is specified instead. The SRO functions as an indexing tool and defines the Market and Market property that can be referenced. In the case of Interest Rate Markets, the term can either be specified or left as a general case and instead specified in the table that uses the SRO. IMPLEMENTATION BEST PRACTICES When activating the Flexible Scenario Format in a Dataset that was initially using Fixed Scenario Format, a number of items may change in the transition. A full list of those items is provided in GGY AXIS Knowledge Base article When the new Scenario Format is adopted, it is recommended that one format be agreed upon and used throughout the organization. Having multiple formats can create compatibility issues when data and models are shared. When a new Scenario is created, it is also necessary to create (or convert) the Historic Scenario to have consistent Markets. All Markets in the Future Scenario need to be contained in the Historic Scenario also. To learn more on the topic of Flexible Scenarios, please see GGY AXIS Knowledge Base articles 1382, 1625, and CASE STUDY: IMPLEMENTING THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ACTUARIES ECONOMIC SCENARIO GENERATOR IN AXIS The AXIS Flexible Scenario Format can be integrated with a stochastic Market Model to provide a powerful solution for producing stochastic economic scenarios. AXIS comes with multiple Economic Scenario Generators (ESGs). AXIS also allows users to code their own ESG using a User Defined Stochastic Market Model (UDSMM). 7

8 This case study provides an overview of how to produce stochastic scenarios using the Academy Interest Rate Generator (AIRG) with the Flexible Scenario Format, and provides additional detail around specific modeling components. As background, the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA) and Society of Actuaries (SOA) jointly manage an ESG, which produces interest rate curves, equity returns, and bond returns that are appropriate for reserving under Actuarial Guideline XLIII (AG43) and calculating capital requirements under Risk Based Capital C3 Phase 2 (RBC C3P2). GGY Knowledge Base article 1678 provides a sample AXIS Dataset, which contains code that replicates the AIRG and forms the starting point of our example. The code can be changed and customized by the AXIS user. MODEL Exhibit 6: Components of an economic scenario The sample Dataset from GGY contains the following key objects: Scenario Formats for Historic and Future Scenarios User Defined Stochastic Market Model Scenario Generator Scenario Set Exhibit 6 illustrates how the various AXIS objects and ESG inputs are integrated to produce economic scenarios. AAA ESG STATIC VARIABLES Equity Parameters Interest Rate Parameters Bond Return Parameters Correlation Matrices DYNAMIC SCENARIO INPUTS Interest Rate Curves (Historic and Future) AAA RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR USER DEFINED STOCHASTIC MARKET MODEL 1. Variable to Index Mapping 2. Initialization 3. Preprocessing 4. Scenario Generating 5. Postprocessing SCENARIO GENERATOR Market Model No. of Scenarios No. of Projection Periods Periodicity Random Number Generator MODEL APPLICATION SCENARIO SET MARKETS Interest Equity Bond User Value FLEXIBLE SCENARIO FORMAT 8

9 TIPS & TRICKS Table Buffer options: Table Buffer options can be used to store table contents or the results of calculations based on table contents. One example of how to use the Table Buffer options is to ratio two tables: 1. Open a table and select Buffer options and Store table in buffer. 2. Quit the first table and open the table to be divided by the stored table. 3. From the second table, select Buffer options and Divide table by buffer. The components to produce economic scenarios are further described in the sections below. SCENARIO FORMATS Scenario Formats are defined for Future and Historic Scenarios using the Flexible Scenario Format. USER DEFINED STOCHASTIC MARKET MODEL Within the UDSMM, input variables are loaded, scenarios are generated based on the AIRG algorithm, and the results are written to Markets within the Scenarios. The UDSMM is comprised of five Formula Tables. 1. Variable to Index Mapping The UDSMM allows users to store variables in an array within one table and pass the variables through to subsequent tables. To access and store variables, AXIS allows users to either call the array by an index number or by a given name. The name is a more straightforward and transparent way to access the data in the array than the index number. In the Variable to Index Mapping table, the function below assigns the name startingvol_usd to index number 1371: Call SetIndexForDoubleParameter ( startingvol_usd, 1371) In future parts of the code, the value stored in the array can be called by its name startingvol_usd instead of the index number. 2. Initialization The AIRG requires calibrated ESG parameters for generating equity returns, interest rate curves, bond returns, and the associated correlations between variables. These inputs are coded in the Initialization Formula Table within the UDSMM, and are based on the calibration used in AIRG version Preprocessing The Preprocessing Formula Table is used to read in scenario inputs and performs calculations to set up the model for the Scenario Generating Formula Table. The AIRG requires an initial yield curve, which will either be read from the Historic Scenario (for valuation) or Future Scenario (for inner loop reserve revaluation at future dates in the projection). 4. Scenario Generating The AIRG ESG algorithm is coded in this Formula Table. To initialize the table, parameters and variables stored in arrays and defined in the previous Formula Tables are loaded into declared variables. After the parameters are loaded, the model stochastically forecasts monthly economic values based on the AIRG algorithm. These values are stored in an array using the function SetTemporaryArrayValue, and are later called in the 9

10 If a company uses different Markets than those defined in the sample Dataset, the code within the Postprocessing Formula Table will need to be modified to include those Markets. Postprocessing Formula Table. The scenario length (number of periods) and number of scenarios to be generated are defined. 5. Postprocessing The Postprocessing Formula Table writes the scenarios developed in the Scenario Generating Formula Table to a Market within a Future Scenario, using the function WriteMarketByRow. For example, the annualized growth rate for the Equity Market US Diversified, in the fifth projection month, is written to the Future Scenario using the following code: Call WriteMarketByRow ( US Diversified, EQ_MRKT_GROWTH, 5, return) This function is called in a loop to write out all of the interest rate and equity returns to the specified Markets for all projection months within a Scenario. Consistent with the Scenario Generating Formula Table, the Postprocessing Formula Table is called the same number of times as there are scenarios defined in the Scenario Generator object. If a company uses different Markets than those defined in the sample Dataset, the code within the Postprocessing Formula Table will need to be modified to include those Markets. SCENARIO GENERATOR A Scenario Generator object in AXIS is used to define the number of scenarios, number of projection periods and periodicity of projection periods. Within the Scenario Generator certain random number generators (RNG) can be defined to generate the Scenarios. The Scenario Generator is then used as an input into a Scenario Set, discussed in the following section. There are two important considerations for creating a Scenario Generator object using the UDSMM provided in the sample Dataset. First, the periodicity of the projection periods defined in the Scenario Generator does not affect the basis of the scenario generation in the UDSMM; the economic values are always generated on a monthly basis. Instead, the periodicity affects how the values are written to Markets. Second, the RNG defined in the Scenario Generator is not used in the UDSMM. Within the Scenario Generating Formula Table there is an RNG algorithm coded to match the AIRG Excel example. This can be modified for certain applications if desired. SCENARIO SET AND APPLICATIONS The Scenario Set object combines the Scenario Generator object, containing the UDSMM, and Scenario Format. When building a Scenario Set, the Markets contained in the Scenario Format need to be consistent with the Markets in the UDSMM; otherwise an error may occur if the UDSMM attempts to write to a 10

11 Market that is not included in the Scenario Format. Scenario Sets with a UDSMM can be used for the following applications: Exhibit 7: Applications of Scenario Sets with a UDSMM APPLICATION Embedded Blocks (e.g., AG43, or RBC C3P2) FAS 133/FAS 157 STEPS Input the Scenario Set in the Stochastic Scenarios section of the Block Projection Assumptions Select the Scenario Set under Multiple Valuation Scenarios in the Dataset Parameters CONCLUSION WHAT S NEW IN AXIS The Flexible Scenario Format requires some effort and education to implement and convert models to use it, but it provides powerful support for advanced actuarial modeling applications requiring multiple interest rate or equity markets. The Flexible Scenario Format supports the input required for principles based valuation, hedging, pricing of embedded options, and other advanced modeling applications. IMPROVED DOLLAR COST AVERAGING ACCOUNT FUNCTIONALITY Description Details Option added in the Annuity Module to allow the Version: Pending Account to define a Dollar Cost Averaging Learn more (DCA) account Within the DCA account, users can define the pattern of funds transferring out to other Investment Accounts ENHANCED SYSTEM LOG AND SYSTEM LOG VIEWER Description New features added to the system log viewer: Additional columns provide more details for each message Filter by condition added to system log messages Ability to export only displayed records Option to view a previously saved log file IMPROVED BATCH LOG VIEWER IN JOB MONITOR Description Several options added for viewing logs in GridLink: View All/Errors/Warnings/Info/Summary Download and View The Download and View option should be used for large log files Details Version: Learn more Details Version: Learn more 11

12 ABOUT OLIVER WYMAN Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting. With offices in 50+ cities across 26 countries, Oliver Wyman combines deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, and organization transformation. The firm s 3,000 professionals help clients optimize their business, improve their operations and risk profile, and accelerate their organizational performance to seize the most attractive opportunities. Oliver Wyman is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies [NYSE: MMC], a global team of professional services companies offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy, and human capital. With 52,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue exceeding $10 billion, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent company of Marsh, a global leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy Carpenter, a global leader in risk and reinsurance intermediary services; and Mercer, a global leader in human resource consulting and related services. The Actuarial Practice of Oliver Wyman has life, health and property & casualty actuaries that advise financial institutions, insurance companies, regulators and self-insured entities across a broad spectrum of risk management issues. With more than 200 professionals in 16 offices across North America and the Caribbean, the firm s consulting actuaries provide independent, objective advice, combining a wide range of expertise with specialized knowledge of specific risks. For more information, please contact: Dean Kerr, FSA, ACIA, MAAA Principal Dean.Kerr@oliverwyman.com Scott Houghton, FSA, MAAA Principal Scott.Houghton@oliverwyman.com Rebecca Rycroft, FSA, FCIA, MAAA Principal Rebecca.Rycroft@oliverwyman.com David Weinsier, FSA, MAAA Partner David.Weinsier@oliverwyman.com Copyright 2015 Oliver Wyman All rights reserved. This report may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Oliver Wyman and Oliver Wyman accepts no liability whatsoever for the actions of third parties in this respect. The information and opinions in this report were prepared by Oliver Wyman. GGY shall have no liability in respect of the views and opinions expressed in this newsletter. This report is not investment advice and should not be relied on for such advice or as a substitute for consultation with professional accountants, tax, legal or financial advisors. Oliver Wyman has made every effort to use reliable, up-to-date and comprehensive information and analysis, but all information is provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Oliver Wyman disclaims any responsibility to update the information or conclusions in this report. Oliver Wyman accepts no liability for any loss arising from any action taken or refrained from as a result of information contained in this report or any reports or sources of information referred to herein, or for any consequential, special or similar damages even if advised of the possibility of such damages. The report is not an offer to buy or sell securities or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities. This report may not be sold without the written consent of Oliver Wyman.